Month: January 2015

………………………………….“So even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems, and that’s a real worry for the people in the bush. If that trend continues then I think we’re going to have serious problems, particularly for irrigation” – Interview with Professor Tim FlanneryABC News (Australia) Landline, 11 Feb 2007

Climate change ”cannot be ruled out” as a factor in recent heavy rainfalls, such as the flash flooding in Sydney on March 8, the wettest March day for more than 25 years, a report by the federal government’s Climate Commission says. The chief commissioner, Tim Flannery, said NSW was highly vulnerable to climate change.Sydney Morning Herald, Environment, 14 May 2012
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Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters…A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.The Guardian 22 Feb 2004

The effects of snow-free winter in Britain are already becoming apparent. This year, for the first time ever, Hamleys, Britain’s biggest toyshop, had no sledges on display in its Regent Street store. “It was a bit of a first,” a spokesperson said.The Independent 20 Mar 2000, “Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past”

A change in the North Atlantic current could lead to the end of the soggy British summers, researchers have claimed….. A decline in its speed, however, could cool the North Atlantic and put an end to the pattern, bringing colder but drier summer weather to Britain in future, experts explained.The Telegraph (UK) 19 Jan 2014

Extreme summer rainfall may become more frequent in the UK due to climate change, according to new research led by the Met Office in collaboration with Newcastle University.Met Office press release 2 Jun 2014

Coral reefs will be the first global ecosystem to collapse in our lifetimes. More than 450 scientists from over 60 countries are participating in the “Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans” symposium. When CO2 in the atmosphere reaches a concentration of 450 to 500 parts per million (ppm), the oceans will mostly be too acidic for corals to grow.IPS News, May 2008

Coral reefs could be growing 35 per cent faster by the next century because of global warming. A team from the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, modelled interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and ice and found that warmer water would increase the rate of coral calcification, outweighing the detrimental effect of lower calcium carbonate levels. By 2100, corals would be growing 35 per cent faster than they do today, they predicted.The Scotsman, 8/12/04

………………………………….“The climate centres around the world, which are the equivalent of the pathology lab of a hospital, have reported the Earth’s physical condition, and the climate specialists see it as seriously ill, and soon to pass into a morbid fever that may last as long as 100,000 years.”James Lovelock, The Independent Thursday 16 January 2006

With the pace of global warming increasing, some climate change experts predict that the Scottish ski industry will cease to exist within 20 years.“Unfortunately, it’s just getting too hot for the Scottish ski industry.” said David Viner, Climatic Research Unit, University of East AngliaThe Guardian, 14 Feb 2004

As snow conditions have improved in Scotland in recent years, so have the facilities in its ski centres. We round up what they offer, from the best pistes to where to stay and the best stop for a nice post-piste cake. (Note: pistes = a marked ski run)The Guardian 2 Feb 2014

“We know who the active denialists are – not the people who buy the lies, mind you, but the people who create the lies. Let’s start keeping track of them now, and when the famines come, let’s make them pay.

Let’s let their houses burn until the innocent are rescued. Let’s swap their safe land for submerged islands. Let’s force them to bear the cost of rising food prices. They broke the climate. Why should the rest of us have to pay for it?”

“The question is whether active denialists who intentionally distort information – not just people who are honestly wrong, but people who are actively spreading disinformation that ends up preventing us from taking preventive action – are essentially setting their own houses and all of our houses on fire. IF that is the case, then what happens when the fire spreads? Who do we rescue first? Note that in my analogy, the fire was already started, meaning that the scientists were right.”

“I don’t think that mass murderers of the usual kind, such as Breivek, should face the death penalty. Nor do I think tobacco denialists are guilty enough to warrant the death penalty, in spite of the enormous number of deaths that resulted more or less directly from tobacco denialism.

GW is different. With high probability it will cause hundreds of millions of deaths. For this reason I propose that the death penalty is appropriate for influential GW deniers. More generally, I propose that we limit the death penalty to people whose actions will with a high probability cause millions of future deaths.”

Richard Parncutt, a Professor at the University of Graz, Austria. “Death Penalty for Global Warming Deniers?” 25 Oct 2012

“To protect future generations, our legal systems urgently need extension. They should measures to protect future generations. Exactly what penalties should be applied in what situation is a question beyond my expertise. I have no expertise in international law or criminal law.

But I can imagine that it might be legitimate to consider the question of the death penalty in such discussions – at least as an extreme with which other more moderate penalties can be compared.

It might also be interesting to consider the power of different kinds of penalties as deterrents. The primary aim should not be to punish a small number of individuals (in the sense of exacting revenge). The primary aim should be to prevent serious consequences for a very large number.”

“Man-made climate change happens. Man-made climate change kills a lot of people. It’s going to kill a lot more. We have laws on the books to punish anyone whose lies contribute to people’s deaths. It’s time to punish the climate-change liars. Those denialists should face jail. They should face fines. They should face lawsuits from the classes of people whose lives and livelihoods are most threatened by denialist tactics.”

“Surely it’s time for climate-change deniers to have their opinions forcibly tattooed on their bodies. Not necessarily on the forehead; I’m a reasonable man. Just something along their arm or across their chest so their grandchildren could say,’Really? You were one of the ones who tried to stop the world doing something? And exactly why was that granddad?’ “

“What are we to make of those behind the well documented corporate funding of global warming denial? Those who purposefully strive to make sure ‘inexact, incomplete and contradictory information’ is given to the public? I believe we understand them correctly when we know them to be not only corrupt and deceitful, but criminally negligent in their wilful disregard for human life. It is time for modern societies to interpret and update their legal systems accordingly.”

“CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature…”
James Hansen, “Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near,” address to the National Press Club, June 232, 2008

“If the climate deniers were to succeed, and stopped the world responding to the mountain of evidence for human-induced global warming, then hundreds of millions of mostly impoverished people around the world would die from the effects of climate change….

If, like me, you adopt a virtue or duty ethic, but one tempered by consideration of the consequences of an act, climate deniers are less immoral that Holocaust deniers, although they are undoubtedly more dangerous.

However, as the casualties from a warming world mount over the next decades, the denialism of those who continue to reject the scientific evidence will come to be seen as more and more iniquitous.

So the answer to the question of whether climate denialism is morally worse than Holocaust denialism is no, at least, not yet.”Clive Hamilton, “Denying the coming holocaust” Crikey.com, 16 November 2009

Climatologist Martin Mozny of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and colleagues say that the quality of Saaz hops – the delicate variety used to make pilsner lager – has been decreasing in recent years. They say the culprit is climate change in the form of increased air temperature.New Scientist, 13/9/09

Rural Australians will be the hardest hit by climate change according to Professor Steve Vanderheiden from the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE).Charles Sturt University, 14 Oct 2013

Scientists wanting to discourage people from making unnecessary trips to the airport to cut greenhouse gases were yesterday awarded £500,000 of taxpayers’ money.

Dr Tim Ryley, of Loughborough University, who will carry out the study alongside researchers at Cranfield and Leeds universities, said: ‘ Travelling to airports has a big impact on carbon emissions, but no one has yet identified how to reduce it. This study will address that gap in our understanding.’Daily Mail, UK, 23 Jan 2010

The effects of climate change will impact more severely on the economy of Papua New Guinea than on any other in the Pacific, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank.ABC News 27 Nov 2013

Pakistan and Guatemala were hardest hit by weather extremes in 2010. Sven Harmeling, Team Leader International Climate Policy at Germanwatch and the index’s author: “Both extraordinary weather extremes in 2010 left their footprint in this year’s Climate Risk Index.”carbon-based-ghg.blogspot.com.au, 2 Dec 2011

Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim stated today that “The Small Island Developing States are among the hardest hit by climate change. We need to work with them and other partners to ensure that we have the best available information on climate change and share experience on adaptation.grida.no/polar/news November 2011

Maldives economy hardest hit by climate change: Asian Development Bank. The Maldives is the most at-risk country in South Asia from climate change impacts, said the report titled ‘Assessing the costs of climate change and adaptation in South Asia.’Minivan News 19 Aug 2014

Mr Dunlop, who’s now with the Association for the study of Peak Oil and Gas, says Australia will be one of the hardest hit by a rise in global temperatures.”We’re one of the driest continents on the earth and the effects on Australia will be more severe than elsewhere.”ABC News 17 May 2013

Australia’s top intelligence agency believes south-east Asia will be the region worst affected by climate change by 2030, with decreased water flows from the Himalayan glaciers triggering a ”cascade of economic, social and political consequences” The dire outlook was provided by the deputy director of the Office of National Assessments, Heather Smith, in a confidential discussion on the national security implications of climate change with US embassy officials.Sydney Morning Herald 16 Dec 2010

Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece are the countries that would be worst affected by global warming, according to a European Union report. The EC Joint Research Commission (JRC) report, released on Wednesday, takes into account four significantly sensitive factors: agriculture, river flooding, coastal systems and tourism.novinite.com/view_news 25 Nov 2009

The economies of southern Europe and the Mediterranean, including Malta, are forecast to suffer the most adverse effects of climate change, according to a new report drawn up by the European Environment Agency.Primo-europe.eu 4 Jul 2010

………………………………….The salt content of the ocean is on the decline, a sign of potentially worrisome consequences that scientists can’t accurately predict. Since the late 1960s, much of the North Atlantic Ocean has become less salty, in part due to increases in fresh water runoff induced by global warming, scientists say.Live Science, 29 Jun 2005

Global warming is making the sea more salty, according to new research that demonstrates the massive shifts in natural systems triggered by climate change.

Experts at the UK Met Office and Reading University say warmer temperatures over the Atlantic Ocean have significantly increased evaporation and reduced rainfall across a giant stretch of water from Africa to the Carribean in recent years. The change concentrates salt in the water left behind.The Guardian, 27 Oct 2008
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The vast looping system of air currents that fuels Pacific trade winds and climate from South America to South-East Asia may be another victim of climate change, according to scientists. The system has weakened by 3.5 per cent over the past 140 years and the culprit is probably human-induced climate change, scientists report in today’s issue of the journal Nature.ABC (Australia) News 5 May 2006 “Global warming weakens air currents”